Draft-rigging for cars.



No. 704,802. Patented july I5, |902.,

.1. A. HlNsnN. Y DRAFT HIGGINS FUR CARS (Application Bled Nov. 22, 1901.) (No Model.) I 2 Sheets-Sheet I um I www y um ning@ 54 00. 704,002. Patenten my l5, |902.

. .1. A. muson. f-

DRAFT HIGGINS FDR GARS. (Applimion med mv. 2s, 1901.) Y (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

r l' y ma 'iwi' a y UNITED ST'Afrite- PATENT OFFICE..

JAMES A. HINSON, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

DRAFT-mesme FOR CARS.

sri-:cinnamon forming par@ I'of Letters recent Np. 704,802, dated July 15, 1902. Application fait Noymber 22,1901.` serai No. 83.217. (No moda.)

v ToaZZ whomc' may concern:

Beit known that I, J AMnsfA.-,H1Nson,of Chicago, in thecounty of Cook and State of- Illinois, haveinventedcertain ynew andfuseful Improvements inDraft'Rigg'ing"forjCar- Couplers; .andIdo'h'ereby declare that the' following is a'full, clear, and' exact description thereof, reference being had tothe accompanying drawings, and-'tov the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to improvements in draw-bar draft-rigging for car-couplers, and refers more specifically to devices for absorbing the shock transmitted to the drawbar through tractive usage and during the operation of coupling and also for lessening the eect of the recoil of the parts of the draft-rigging under the action ofthe springs placed under tension.

The invention consists in the matters hereinaftersetforth,and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings, Figure-1 is a side eleva'- tion of afamiliar form of draft-rigging, showing my invention applied thereto. Fig. 2iis a plan view of the draft-rigging, showing the draft-sills on either side thereof. Figlia isa longitudinal vertical section of the draft-rigging, taken on line 3 3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 isa transverse vertical section"k thereof, taken online 4L et of Fig. 3. Y

As shown in said drawings,-A Adesignate' the draft-sills, which are attached'to'the'under sides of the forward ends of longitudinal floor-sills B. "v

C is a transverse end sill of the car-floor frame, and D the buEer-sill.

E designates the ldraw-bar of the coupler, located centrally between the draft-sills A and supported lat its outer end below the buffer-sill by a stirrup c. To the inner end of said draw-bar is attached a yoke E2. F F designate two'c'oiled spiral springs, one within the other, which areV located between the arms of said yoke and areheld from vertical displacement by said arms. Said springs bear attheire'nd'sagainst follower-plates Gr, located at the forward and rearward ends of the yoke, and said follower-plates t at their opposite ends in recesses or notches in the inner faces of draft-plates II, attached to the ldraft-sills,l said plateshavi'ng the usual forwardlyA and rearwardly facing shoulders, as

kindicated indotted lines in Fig.'2, which act to' limit the forward and rearward movements of said follower-plates.

in the-usual manner to yieldingly resist the end thrust of thedraw-bar with respect to l the draft-sills in either direction and to thereby cushion the blows due to such movements The springs F F' act of the draw-bar in tractive usage and during coupling operations. Y

The improvements constituting my invention consist in applying to the draft-rigging of the general type described or other equivwhich act in a direction transverse to the direction of compression'of the draw-bar spring or springs, of which latter there may be one or two, andl iuterposing between said drawbar and supplemental spring or springs friction-producing means which are brought into use subsequently to the preliminary action of the draw-bar and supplemental springs. In other words, the draw-bar and supplemental springs are placed under preliminary stress -atapproximately the same instant at the time 4the draw-bar begins tomove in either direction', 'and subsequently in the continued moveyment ofthedraw-bar the friction-producing means are brought into action and act, in conjunction with saidsprings, to augment or increase' thev resistance to the movement of said :draw-bar. `Preliminary strains and those which'are comparatively moderate in their force and eifect 'which occur in tractive use are opposed by the resistance of the draw-bar and supplemental springs in their preliminary stress, the friction-producing means being at this time inactive, While tractive and tober 8, 1901. Said spring. is located between the draft-sills with the free ends of its arms extending above and below the draw-bar, and is lalent type a supplemental spring or springs o IOG attached at the center of its loop to the draftsills by means of a clip I', attached to the said d raft-sills in the manner shown in Fig. 2. The friction-producing means referred to are interposed between the ends of said springs and the draw-bar, and consist offriction-blocks J, carried by and movable with the draw-bar yoke and having laterally-facingbearing-faces, and other friction-blocks K, having bearing-faces complemental to those of the blocks J and held against said blocks J by means of the arms of the spring I. Preferably the bearing-surfaces of said blocks consist of alternately-reversed inclined faces, as clearlyv shown in Fig. 3, whereby when the blocks J are moved relatively to the blocks K the inclined surfaces of the blocks act to spread the arms of the spring I, and thereby increase the tension of said spring. The blocks J are recessed on their inner faces to fit over the draw-bar yoke in the manner shown in Fig. 3, whereby said blocks are held from longitudinal and transverse displacement, and the blocks K are held in place by the tension of the arms of the spring I. Said blocks K are strengthened by longitudinal ribs K', formed on their outer faces.

The operative connections between the arms of the spring I and the outer frictionblocks K, whereby said spring I is placed under preliminary stress ortension in the first part of the movement of the draw-barin either direction and prior to the operation of the 'friction-producing means, consist of rollers L, mounted in bearingsl formed on the outer faces of said friction-blocks, and bearing-casings I2, attached to the ends of the springarms and provided with inwardly-facing reversely-inclined bearing-surfaces i' i', adapted to engage said rollers L, said inclined surfaces t" being so disposed as to form central depressions between the same, in which the rollers rest when in their normal or inactive positions. At the forward and rearward ends of said inclined surfaces c' i" are formed vertical stop-shoulders 'i2 713, as shown in Fig. 3, which act to limit the longitudinal movement of the rollers and the friction-blocks K, which carry the same, in both directions. Said bearing-casting L isprovided at its side margins with vertical flanges Z, which overlap the ribs K of the outer bearing-blocks K and prevent relativelateral movementofsaidparts. Vith this construction both sets of friction-blocks move with the draw-bar in the first part of the lnovement of the latter and until the rollers strike one pair of the stop-shoulders i2 is, depending upon the direction of movement of the draw-bar, this movement being permitted by reason of the limited travel of the rollers with respect to said bearing-castings of the supplemental spring. When said rollers strike said stop-shoulders, the movement of the outer friction-blocks K is arrested, and if the movement of the draw-bar and inner friction-blocks be continued the friction-producing means will be brought into operation.

The operation of the device described is as follows: When a relatively light strain is transmitted to the draw-bar, such as would occur in traction due to slight undulations of the road-bed or in gently starting or stopping the t'rain, the draw-bar is moved inwardly or outwardly, as the case may be, thereby placing the springs F F under compression, and by reason of the limited relative movement of the outer friction-blocks K and rollers L with respect to the bearing-castings I2 said rollers are at the same time moved outwardly or inwardly, as the case may be, over one pair of the inclined bearing-surfaces il t" and cause said spring I to be placed under tension and to thereby act, in conjunction with the draw-bar spring, to resist or counteract such movement of the draw-bar. The action of the draw-bar and supplemental springs .continues in this manner until the movement of the draw-bar is sufficient to bring the rollers L into contact with either of the stop-shoulders i2 or t3. When this occurs, the movement of the outer frictionblocks K is arrested, and should the force transmitted tothe draw-bar be sufficiently great to continue the movement of said drawbar and of the friction-blocks J, which latter move at all times with the draw-bar, said friction-blocks J will move upon Aor relatively to the friction-blocks K, thereby producing frictional resistance between said blocks, which is added to the resistance of the springs and greatly increases the resistance to the movement of the draw-bar. The parts are of course in practice so proportioned that the combined spring and friction resistance is sufficient to absorb or counteract the practical maximum strains which may be transmitted to the draw-bar. In case the frictionblocks be provided with reversely-inclined faces, as shown, and which is a preferred construction, the movement of the frictionblocks J on the blocks K causes further tension to be placed on the supplemental spring I, thereby augmenting the resistance of said spring and also augmenting the frictional resistance between the blocks J and K. In practice the travel of the rollers L from their central positions to the stop-shoulders 2 i3 (where the draw-bar has a total movement of from two to two and one-quarter inches in either direction) will be from three-quarters of an inch to one inch and the movement of the friction-blocks relatively to each other subsequently to the preliminary stress ofthe springs from one and one-quarter to one and one-half inches. As before stated, the drawbar and supplemental springs are in practice so proportioned as to absorb the ordinary tractive and the lesser buffer strains without bringing the friction-producing means-to wit, the friction-blocks J and K-into action, and resistance due to the action of the friction-blocks, acting in conjunction with the spring resistance of the draw-bar andsupplemental springs, is suflicient to absorb the IIO strains and shocks transmitted to the drawbar in emergency tractive uses and in coupling.

It is to be understood that the form of the spring may be varied, and, if desired, the said spring and the friction-producing means may be applied to one side of the draw-bar only. Moreover, it is obvious that the same results Will be produced if the rollers be mounted on the springs and cooperate With inclined surfaces on the outer friction-blocks K. It is further obvious that many other changes may be made in the details of the construction Without departing from the spirit of my invention, and I do not Wish to be limited thereto except as hereinafter made the subject of speciiic claims.

I claim as my inventionl. A draft-rigging for cars, comprising a draw-bar, a draw-bar spring, a supplemental spring, means for placing said supplemental spring under stress in a direction transverse y to the direction of compression of the drawbar spring through longitudinal movement of the draw-bar, friction-produ cin g means interposed between the draw-bar and said supplemental spring, and means acting to bring said friction-producing means into operation subsequently to the preliminary action of said supplemental spring and draw-bar spring.

2. A draft-rigging for cars, comprising a draw-bar, a draw-bar spring, a friction-block carried by the draw-bar, a complemental friction-block, a supplemental spring for holding said blocks pressed one against the other, and means acting to first place said supplemental and draw-bar springs under preliminary stress and to thereafter cause the draw-bar frictionblock to move relatively to the other frictionlock'in the continued movement of the draw- 3. A draft-rigging for cars, comprising a draw-bar, a draw-bar spring, a friction-block carried by the draw-bar, having reversely-inclined bearing-surfaces, a complemental friction-block; a supplemental spring for holding said blocks pressed one against the other, and means actingto first place said draw-bar and supplemental springs under preliminary stress and to thereafter cause the draw-bar friction-block to move relatively to the other friction-block in the continued movement of the draw-bar, the friction-blocks acting in such continued movement of the draw-bar to place the supplemental spring under stress.

4. A draft-rigging for cars, comprising a draw-bar, a draw-bar spring, a supplemental spring which acts transversely to the direction of compression of the draw-bar spring, a friction-block carried by the draw-bar, a complemental friction-block which is pressed against said draw-bar friction-block by said supplemental spring, both of said frictionblocks being movable with the draw-bar and relatively to the supplemental spring in the preliminary stress of the supplemental and draw-bar springs, coacting parts'carried by said supplemental spring and one of the friction-blocks acting to place said spring under tension in the initial movement of the drawbar, and stops acting to limit the movement of the last-mentioned friction-block subsequently to the preliminary stress of thesaid supplemental and draw-bar springs and to cause the draw-bar friction-block to move relatively to the complemental friction-block in the continued movement of the draw-bar.

5. A draft-rigging for cars comprising a draw-bar, a draw-bar spring, a supplemental spring which acts transversely to the direction of compression of the draw-bar spring, a friction-block carried by the draw-bar, a complemental friction-block which is pressed against said draw-bar friction-block by said supplemental spring, both of said friction-blocks being movable with the draw-bar and relatively to the supplemental spring in the preliminary stress of the supplemental and draw-bar springs, coacting parts carried by said supplemental spring and one of the friction-blocks, consisting of va roller on one part and a reversely-inclined surface on the other part acting to place said supplemental spring under tension in the initial movement of the drawbar, and stops acting to limit the movement of the last-mentioned friction-block subsequently to the preliminary stress of the supplemental and draw-bar springs, whereby the draw-bar friction-block is caused to move relatively to its complemental friction-block in the continued movement of the'draw-bar.

6. A draft-rigging for cars comprising a draw-bar,- a draw-bar spring, a supplemental spring which acts transverse to the direction of compression of the draw-bar spring, a bearing-block carried by` said supplemental spring, ka friction-block carried bythe'drawbar, a complemental friction-block which is held pressed against said draw-bar frictionblock by said supplemental spring, one of said parts, toWit, the bearing-block or said complemental friction-block being provided with a roller and the other part with reversely-inclined coasting surfaces, and stops on said bearing-block for limiting the movement of the roller and the friction-block carrying the same relativelyto said supplemental spring.

7. A draft-rigging for cars, comprising a draw-bar, a draw-bar spring, supplemental springs on each side ofthe draw-bar which act transversely to the direction of compression of the draw-bar spring, friction-blocks one on each side of and carried by the drawbar, complemental friction-blocks which are pressed against said draw-bar friction-blocks by said supplemental springs, both sets of said friction-blocks being movable with the draw-bar and relatively to the supplemental springs in the preliminary stress of the supplemental and draw-bar springs, coacting parts carried by said supplemental springs and one set of the vfriction-blocks acting to strain said supplemental springs in the initial movement of the draw-bar, and stops act- IOO IIO

ing to limit the movement of the last-menmy invention I afx my signature, in prestioned friction-blocks subsequently to the ence of two Witnesses, this 23d day of Octo- 1o preliminary stress of the supplemental and ber, A. D. 1901.

draw-bar sprnvs whereby the draw-bar fric- 5 tion-blocks arebeused to move relatively to JAMES A' HINSON' their complemental friction-blocks in the con- Witnesses: tinued movement of the draw-bar. WILLIAM L. HALL,

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as GERTRUDE BRYCE. 

